The Los Angeles Rams picked up a dominant divisional win in Week 12, beating the Arizona Cardinals 37-14 and the play of the defense had a lot to do with that. Rookie defensive lineman Kobie Turner had two of the Rams’ four sacks as they held Arizona under 300 total yards.
It originally looked as if this would be a back-and-forth contest after the Cardinals responded to the Rams opening touchdown drive with a 12-play scoring drive of their own. But the defense clamped down after that and Turner credited the offense with helping out as well.
Turner noted that the Rams offense sustaining long drives and staying on the field allowed the defense not only to rest, but also to look at what happened on that opening drive and make the necessary adjustments, via Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic:
“It feels really good, their first drive(s) of the game (were) really long drives, so we’re able to go through each one of those plays (on defense), talk adjustments,” he said, “and they’re still running the ball. It means a lot to be able to sustain some long drives, it gives us rest (and) allows us to be fresher when we go out there and get after the passer. Feels incredible. It gives you a lot of momentum, too, when you’re running the ball like that. You’re physically exerting your will on the other team.”
With great teams, the offense and defense complement each other. The defense can help out the offense by creating turnovers and giving them short fields to work with. On the other side, as was the case Sunday, the offense staying on the field allows the defense to rest and come out with more energy when they take the field and that was crucial for Turner and the Rams.
After the Cardinals’ score, each of the Rams’ next three drives went for eight plays. Though they only scored once, as Turner noted, it meant a lot for the defense to be able to get some rest and look at what they did wrong. The result was just 29 yards allowed for the rest of the first half.
The Rams defense is a young group, but one that is talented and simply needs to grow together. The offense giving them that extra time to see their mistakes and fix them ultimately made the difference in them dominating the rest of the game and the Rams coming out with a win.
